Bewitchingly Endearing
by Mansi jain
Summary: In a world where women are not allowed to study magic & love is a sin that they can't commit before marriage, Harriet is allowed to study on the condition that she would marry Ronald when she is twenty.


Disclaimer: All rights belong to Rowling and the relevant corporations. I make no money from the publication of this "work."

 ** _A/N: The women in the world of this story are not given the freedom to study after Hogwarts. They are to be married as soon as they graduate from Hogwarts. James and Lily are alive and Harriet Potter is living with them. They are strict. Weasleys are very rich. Malfoys are nice. Severus Snape is as he was portrayed in Canon._**

 ** _Female Harry Potter/ Male Draco malfoy_**

 ** _Female Sirius Black/Male Severus Snape_**

 ** _Chapter-1_**

 ** _Oooops! I am Drunk_**

Draco stares at his latest treasure. It's a book of spells written by one Charles Evelyn Masther Babbage twelve hundred years ago. Many of these spells could prove to be very beneficial in curing some of the deadliest diseases today. He is going to handover the book for a good price to a healer. He has not decided as to who will be the best person though he has a hunch that the only person in Britain worth unraveling the secrets of this book is Hermione Granger. He also knows that considering the present day customs, she won't be allowed to pursue her education. Neither her parents will allow nor her would be in-laws.

So here he is sitting, staring at the book. He had not really ever cared about the tradition of not allowing women even simplest of liberties like allowing them to pursue the education of their choice. that almost all pureblood families followed. His family used to be one of them. His sister Violet Malfoy was being forced to marry Zabini when Draco concocted a plan to get her out of it.

It was rather very simple. He faked her suicide. Father was so devastated that he started sobbing and mother went almost insane at the thought of losing her daughter just because they wanted her to get married at the age of eighteen. When they realized that she wasn't really dead, they were so relieved that they didn't let Violet out of their sight for a complete weak. They apologized and told her that she could study as much as she wants. That was two years ago. Violet is studying advanced Sorcery in Romania. She has a boyfriend and is happy and so are his parents.

Violet is lucky. There are some others who are not so lucky though. One of them is Harriet Potter. He saw her sitting quietly in a cafe, her trademark glasses replaced by fashionable ones. Her hair were as curly as they had been four years ago when they had graduated and Draco had fled the country. Her eyes were green and had lost their spark and her face was pale and devoid of the smile that he had been lucky to witness some times at Hogwarts.

He asked a few people and it was shocking for Weasley to approach him to tell him that he was supposed to get married to Harriet Potter. On the face of Ronald Wealsey was a good match. He was rich, decent and handsome. He was funny and Harriet's childhood friend. He was completely in favor of letting girls pursue what they wished to.

On the face of it, everything was fine. The only thing was that the entire Hogwarts knew that he is and always been in love with Hermione Granger. Harriet has always treated him like a brother.

Draco doesn't know why he invited him to the wedding which was supposed to be in a month but his eyes were trying to tell something to him. Draco scratches his cheeks, staring unseeingly on the book's cover and wonders if the reason of inviting him was somewhat related to what Draco had witnessed all those years ago in the astronomy room.

He blinks and lets the memories wash over him...

 _Lately, Draco has started wandering around corridors of Hogwarts after curfew. Being a prefect has its perks This is one of them. No-one can give him a detention for being out so late at night. The days when he used to enjoy torturing younger year kids have gone and Draco is torturing himself with the thoughts of being forced to take the mark come Christmas. It's supposed to be a Christmas gift for him. It's anything but. How could father lead this to happen. It's completely unfair for Draco to be punished for the mistake that father has done._

 _The thought of being one of his followers disgusts him and terrifies him too. It's all well and good for father to be imprisoned. Why must Draco be punished for father's mistakes. Hence the wandering around. It's good that Violet was sent to Durmstrang to study. Maybe he should have been sent there too._

 _"Bloody fuck-ukking ass-assholes. Idii-ots" Draco's mouth pops open in shock because this is Potter and she sounds drunk. She is screaming at the top of her voice, no actually she is slurring._

 _"I just had to be the bloody girl-who-lived-to-die-to-save-the-world. Just had to crush on the biggest pure-pureblood asshole of this planet. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK."_

 _Draco stops in his tracks when she mutters the last few words. He wants to know exactly who she has fallen for._

 _"Bloody Malfoy. Why does he have to be a Malfoy anyways? Blood purebloods. All of them are male chauvinist pigs." She doesn't sound too drunk though...only slightly tipsy. Belatedly, his eyes become wide and his jaw falls again because she is talking about him, unless there is some other Malfoy in Hogwarts and he knows that is not possible._

 _"Keeps on quarreling with me. Doesn't even notice anything, not even when I dress up for him. Otherwise he is always accusing me of having no dressing sense. You are not a girl Potter. You are just a brute. No-one will marry you and you will die as a lonely old woman."_

 _Draco has to practically cover his mouth from snorting when she tries to mimic him. He is surprised. He had indeed never noticed her getting dressed up for him. He would have liked to stand there and listen to more but then he hears a soft, 'Meoww." and realizes that Filch is not far off. He peaks behind him and on finding no-one there he rushes inside the Astronomy tower._

 _She hates him. She hates him for being Lucius's son and for being a bloody death eater. He knows that she despises him with every fiber of her being._

 _He wonders how she is even supposed to defeat Voldemort single handedly. He is supposed to be the most powerful wizard of the century, not just powerful, but intelligent and clever and she is just a spoiled and ignorant girl, not to mention manner-less. She hates him for saying such things._

 _"Potter. Shhhhhh." He hisses and Harriet whirls around, string at him, slackjawed._

 _"Malf-" She starts but he places a hand on her mouth, shutting her up effectively. She loses her balance and her feet trip. He catches her and prevents her from falling by pulling her towards his chest and she is feeling drunk and so she slumps against him._

 _Filch leaves and he murmurs, "I ought to give you a detention for wandering out after curfew."_

 _She smiles dreamily, her cheeks on his chest, apparently too drunk to realize what she is doing or saying. She is such an idiot._

 _He is taller than her and she tucks her face under his chin._

 _"If the detention is with you, then I am all for it. I like you so much. You are so sweet." She murmurs, her lips upturned dreamily._

 _"You are wasted Potter." He murmurs, his hands around her thin waist, stunned. It is unbelievable. He had never imagined that this is what she though about him._

 _"Am not." She lies, shaking her head and he argues, "Are too. Did you even take dinner?"_

 _"Not hungry." She mumbles and closes her eyes, "I am tired. sleeping... goodnight Malfoy." I_

 _"I am going to take you to your dorms." He whispers and she replies sleepily, "No."_

 _"You are going to be so mad at me in the morning. I shouldn't-" He murmurs but then she drifts off into slumber._

Draco blinks, coming back to present. The room is dark. He never got a chance to think about it. She didn't let him and so he doesn't feel anything for her except frustration on her behalf. She is a brilliant seeker and he is sure that she wants to become a professional player.

He wonders if she still wants him. It doesn't matter though. He needs to meet her before visiting father and mother who are searching for a match for him, knowing that he is much too rebellious to give in to any of their demands. His parents can not force him. They couldn't even force him to take the mark.

He takes a deep breath and walks towards his fireplace. He needs to meet Granger first. Maybe she will be able to guide him towards the right direction. As far as he knows, Potter's parents are very strict.

He remembers how she had requested him to stay quiet about what had happened because her parents won't let her complete her graduation otherwise. They had never spoken about it and had continued as if nothing had happened and if he had noticed her eyes getting dull and smile vanishing day by day, he was compelled to ignore it. She never gave him a chance to pursue what he had heard.

She was too afraid of her parents and he is sure she still is.

Draco sighed and ran his hand through his hair before kneeling down in front of the hearth.

XXXX


End file.
